Their numbers certainly call for induction. They totally deserve it.
However, I do have one question. Why is it that there is suspicion hanging over the heads of all the sluggers from the steroid era, but not the pitchers? I'm not accusing any of these guys of being on the juice, but if you're suspicious of the hitters, isn't there a case to be made to be suspicious about the pitchers too?
Wasn't Pedro on the same team as several proven juicers? How did he get the ball up to the plate with that velocity when he only weighed about 150 pounds? How did Randy Johnson continue to throw nearly a hundred miles an hour as a 40-year-old? What happened to Smoltz's hair...isn't hair loss a proven side effect of steroids?
Again, not accusing any of those guys. I don't think they did use PEDs.
But this is what I hate about the steroids era. Voters have to guess. Bonds and McGwire have admitted it now, and Palmeiro was caught, but Sammy never was. We just assume he juiced. (He probably did, but you get the picture). What about Piazza and Bagwell? Don't you think suspicion about them is one of the reasons they haven't been elected? Neither guy has ever been connected to it, as far as I know, but some voters clearly wonder. Their numbers call for election. What about Tim Raines? Did steroids help make him faster on the bases? Probably not, but who knows?
I don't have an answer to the question. I just wonder. Why aren't the pitchers suspected? It's not like we don't know that some of them probably did juice (Roger Clemens anyone?). Jose Canseco said that something like 70% of the players from the era used something. His formerly outlandish claims don't seem that outlandish anymore, do they?
I'm glad I don't have a Hall of Fame vote. I have no idea how I would handle this.
